Spring 2012

Intro to CHMS- CHMS 201 001 Michael Trujillo TR 1230-1345
Introductory survey of the Mexican American experience in the United States, with special reference to New Mexico. Exploration of historical, political, social, and cultural dimensions.

Intro to Chicana Studies- CHMS 332 021 Irene Vasquez TR 1100-1215
This general survey course introduces students to knowledge production on and academic approaches relevant to Chicana women’s diverse and changing social statuses from the times of Indigenous sovereignties preceding European interventions in Mexico to the late 20th century. The course traces economic and political transitions highlighting generalized mutations of racial/ethnic, gender, sexuality, social rank/class, and cultural expressions reflecting the conditions and the dominant attitudes of women’s subordination. Course materials will highlight Chicana/Mexican/Indigenous women’s attempts to challenge notions of inferiority and rationalizations for dominance through actions and power contestations and, in turn, contextualize these actions socially, economically and politically.

Race, Culture, Gender, Class in NM- 342 001 Carmen Samora MW 1200-1315
Hispano and Native perspectives of NM history begin with colonialism, military history, politics, economics, but must also consider culture, gender , and class to understand the resilience of people as actors in their own history.

NM Villages and Cultural Landscapes- CHMS 393 004 Levi Romero W 1600-1830
Before the age of strip malls, big-box supercenters, store-bought produce, and cyberspace social networks, New Mexicans gathered in plazas, grew their own vegetable gardens, and engaged in platicas to share stories and exchange knowledge and information. This course will examine dynamic New Mexican cultural settings and traditions such as plazas, resolanas, matanzas, acequia culture. Students will read from narratives that celebrate community and explore New Mexico’s not-so-easily-forgotten past.

Family and Oral History- CHMS 393 010 Carmen Samora M 1600-1830
CHMS Family and Oral History is an interdisciplinary approach to understanding and validating the unique relationships we form through family. Family relationships are our first cultural experience. From there we begin to understand the larger social and cultural implications of race, class, gender, and ethnicity in American life and society. This course is designed to show how our identities are shaped by family first, leading to conceptions of self, nation, and citizenship. Storytelling builds community, provides a rich oral legacy, and transmits the culture of the group. However, the stories may be easily ignored or discounted because of who tells them. This course validates both the story and the teller.

Chicana Feminisms- CHMS 393 003 Elena Aviles M 1900-2130
This topics course explores the history and development of Chicana Feminisms with special attention to how Chicana feminists voice their concerns and politics on a wide
range of issues including race, class, gender, sexuality and language. We will explore the different waves of feminism and feminist historiography to understand how Chicana feminists differ from European and U.S. Feminist Movements and how Chicana Feminism draws from a cultural and historical tradition of strong female figures. At the same time, we will explore how Chicana feminists express a women of color politics in the US that has allowed for cross-cultural communication with Third World and Transnational feminist efforts across the globe. Attention is also given to contributions of New Mexican women, many with ties to UNM, to Chicana Feminist efforts across time.

Vatos and Homegirls in Lit and Film- CHMS 393 001 Lorena Galvan TR 0930-1045
This course will focus on the cultural and ethnic representation of El Pachuco/a, El Vato Loco and La Chola in Chicana/o literature and film to analyze how Chicanas/os, and mainstream America construct and re-figure these subjects. At issue will be the performance of gendered bodies and politicized mythos by which these social subjects are seen as an embodiment of revolutionary identity by some and as delinquent subjects by others. This course begins with the zoot suit subculture of the early 1940s; moves to Chicano movement narratives of El Pachuco, next the literature and film of the 1990s that offer many interpretive possibilities for how El Vato and La Chola are represented, and concludes with contemporary Chicana homegirl narratives that challenge and disrupt private and public norms. Text will include; “El Louie” and “Los Vatos” by Jose Montoya, Zoot Suit by Luis Valdez, Always Running: La Vida Loca: Gang Days in L.A. by Luis J. Rodríguez, Working in The Dark: Reflections of a poet of the Barrio by Jimmy Santiago Baca, Locas by Yxta Maya Murray, Mi Vida Loca directed by Allison Anders, American Me directed by Edward James Olmos, Mi Familia by Gregory Nava, Blood In Blood Out.

Chicanos in a Global Society- CHMS 393 012 Joseph Garcia MW 0930-1045
In this course students will develop an introductory understanding about the challenges and complexities of living in a global society. An emphasis will be placed on the study of Chicano, Hispano, and Mexicano communities in the U.S. and the economic, political, and social struggles they have encountered since end of the Second World War. Students will explore current theoretical ideas and debates about globalization from a critical perspective. The literature for this course will be interdisciplinary and will cover topics related to the major challenges facing an increasingly global society that confronts globalization. Key concepts to be covered throughout the course include: globalization, transnational capitalism, global cities, transnational social movements, transnational migrations, race and ethnicity within the U.S. social structure, gendered experiences, and focus on a stronger understanding of what I means to live in the U.S. Empire in the 21st century.

Writing and Storytelling- CHMS 393 009 Cathy Arellano R 1600-1830
“We Want Freedom” comes from Mumia Abu-Jamal’s memoir We Want Freedom: A Life in the Black Panther Party. In this course, we’ll read fiction, nonfiction, and poetry texts where the themes of resistance and liberation permeate the work. We’ll discuss the events, ideas, passions, and people that inspired our selected activists-authors. We’ll examine how these writers conveyed their messages and practice using some of these methods. We will view some excerpts of films and visual images as well as listen to music to experience other artists’ and/or activists’ approach to the themes. Above all, this course is a writing workshop for new, original work and is intended for individual students to write and work in a writing community. Students will be expected to: create new work in class and outside class, bring in revised typed work for peers to critique, offer constructive criticism to peers, keep a writing journal for class notes and writing drafts, revise and word process pieces based on notes, turn in revised manuscripts, and write brief response papers to texts. We will have guest visitors as well as venture to local sites to attend events for study and inspiration. The course will end with students completing a final, revised manuscript of original work and organizing and participating in a public presentation of their work.

Advanced Seminar in CHMS- CHMS 490 001 LM Garcia y Griego MW 1400-1515
The Capstone Seminar in Chicana/o Studies offers students an in depth examination of relevant topics in the field of Chicana/o Studies. Students develop an individual research projects under the supervision of the instructor and present their findings in and outside of the class. This capstone course encourages students to critically grapple with salient issues impacting Chicana and Chicano communities from a historical and multidisciplinary perspective. This summative course experience offers critical insights drawn from disciplines such as literature, cultural studies, education, political science, psychology, and history, which offer an interdisciplinary and integrative understanding of diverse expressions of the Chicana and Chicano experience.